Level Ground is proud to introduce our media partner and new Making It Queer sponsor, Outfest!

Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival is eleven days of not to be missed world-class films, panels, and parties. Each summer Outfest Los Angeles screens more than 150 feature and short films to an audience more than 40,000 people. Outfest Los Angeles is the oldest film festival in Los Angeles and is considered the preeminent LGBTQ film festival in the world. Learn more at outfest.org.

Making It Queer will be hanging out at Outfest all week, talking with directors, cast members, and the people who are championing queer stories on screen.

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We sat down with the director and cast of We The Animals a day ahead of their LA premiere at Outfest. We had an incredible conversation with the first-time director Jeremiah Zagar and two cast members, Sheila Vand and Raul Castillo. If you missed the film at Outfest, its nationwide theatrical release is coming on August 17th!

We sat down in the heart of the festival for another amazing conversation - this time with Game Girls director Alina Skrzeszewska. Her film is one of our favorites from this year's festival. It's a heartwrenching look at life on skid row, how community is held together by shared experiences of poverty, and the barriers to climbing out of a life on the streets. 

As a part of our ongoing coverage of Outfest, we got to have a great conversation with MAN MADE director, T Cooper. His film traces the varied lives of four transgender men as they prepare to step on stage at the only all-trans bodybuilding competition in the world. It follows their emotional and physical journeys as they navigate lives as the men they are, despite very real risks inherent in the current social and political climate. For the men of MAN MADE, it's not about winning—it's about being seen.

We absolutely LOVED this film! If you want to follow along with the film's journey, check out their website at www.manmadedoc.com/